Marisol Leon

12/17/18

Discussion Board Week 15: Peer Review of Cover Letters

Cover Letter Writer: Dania Medina

Reviewer: Marisol Leon

1. Does the letter directly address ALL six of our student learning outcomes? (10-20
words: Yes/No, which?).

No, the letter doesn't include the six learning outcomes only #1,2, and 4.

2. Does the letter support its claims about how the portfolio demonstrates the writer’s
achievement of our SLOs with specific evidence from actual portfolio documents? Here’s
an example of specific evidence:​ “In the third paragraph of my definition of “fracking,” I
define “aquifer” in parentheses because I know my audience—general readers of
Wikipedia—may not know that specialized term. On the other hand, I’ve included academic
words like “rhetorical” in this cover letter without defining them, because I know that my
audience—Dr. Bruce—knows what these academic terms mean. This shows that I have
learned part of SLO 1, which says I should be able to write to a variety of audiences.” ​(And
yes, you can refer to parts of your cover letter as I’ve done here to show you’ve mastered
an SLO). (1 word: Yes/No/Sometimes)

Sometimes.

3. Were there arguments (claims with evidence) that you’d particularly like to see
improved, or that you’d simply like to praise? (50-100 words)

I think that the argument for SLO 1 was good. I think that SLOs #2 and 4 need to have more
evidence and the writer needs to include the other SLOs. Also, the writer should include the
cover letter in one of the body paragraphs. The writer also made a good introduction and
conclusion for their cover letter.

4. Is the letter organized logically and efficiently, or could you suggest ways to improve the
organization (topic sentences, transitions, P order, statement of purpose, intro/conclusion)
(40-50 words)?
I think that the organization of the letter is good. I also noticed that the writer did not put
parenthesis on SLO 4 like she did with the other SLOs. Other then that, the writer is very
consistent in their organization.

5. Does the cover letter use letter formatting (20-30 words)?

The cover letter does use the letter formatting because they include the address, greeting and the
closing when they say "sincerely" and sign their name.

6. Are the letter’s sentences effective and clear? Could the writer use our sentence
strategies (e.g., active, vigorous verbs or reducing prepositions) to be more concise? (40-50
words)

The sentences of the letter are clear but could be more concise. The writer should change "I
learned to give constructive criticism and award good work when needed." to "I learned to give
constructive criticism and praise when needed". Also, "This shows my proficiency in defining a
word so most readers can understand it." to "My proficiency in defining words help my readers
understand them".